Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Volume 132 Number 34
Jasper, Georgia
Local News Published Weekly
Mattress Mountain leveled,
but will it rise again?
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
A massive pile of dis
carded mattresses left beside
the Community Thrift Store
looks just as nasty as you
think they would.
“Worse,” said Thrift Store
founder Don Russell of the
mattresses that number
somewhere between 200 and
400 in a mound on an empty
lot on Samaritan Drive.
The mound was slowly
eroding with the county em
ployees using a track hoe to
load the soggy mattresses
one at a time into dumpsters
and a county dump truck for
removal to the Whitestone
inert landfill, all at taxpay
ers’ expense.
It was thought the work
might take the crew of four
about three days to finish -
though it could be longer as
county crews arrived Tues
day morning to find addi
tional mattresses and some
household garbage had been
added overnight.
The bill for the cleanup,
that began Friday and is ex
pected to go until Wednes
day, might be $10,000,
according to the county.
Roger Mulkey, a supervi
sor with the road depart
ment, said the mattresses had
been out in the rain for
Dan Pool / Photo
Using a track-hoe, county employees tackle the mound of mattresses discarded next door to the Thrift Store when
it is closed. The county says this situation must be brought under control, while the Thrift Store founder says it ’s
illegal dumping the county needs to address.
weeks or months and a fully
soaked mattress is “really
heavy - maybe 200 to 300
pounds” so the only way to
move them was with the
equipment.
Commission Chair Rob
Jones added during a sepa
rate interview that he ad
vised the crew to use
equipment for safety, so no
one would have to touch the
mattresses.
Shoppers at the Thrift
Store were stopping to watch
the work with a few mar
veling at the size of the
mound, as though the pile
that grown at that spot since
See Mattresses on 2A
CBD:
A real cannabinoid
experience
Larry Cavender / Photo
On Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, Pharmacist and Jasper Drug
Store owner Jack Dunn, hosted an information seminar
on CBD at Chattahoochee Tech. After immersing him
self in research about the new product, Dunn enthusi
astically endorses it.
By Larry Cavender
Contributing writer
Over the past year, it
seems hundreds of signs
have appeared along road
sides and outside storefronts
advertising CBD. If you are
like many people, you may
be wondering, "What ex
actly is CBD?"
On Tuesday, Dec. 3rd,
pharmacist and Jasper Drag
Store owner Jack Dunn
hosted an information sem
inar on CBD at Chatta
hoochee Tech. More than
three dozen people were in
attendance and heard
Dunn's program. Jasper
Drag Store recently became
a retail outlet for Ananda
Professional CBD, and alter
immersing himself in re
search about the new prod
uct, Dunn enthusiastically
endorses it.
Technically speaking,
the initials CBD refer to
Cannabinoid. More specifi
cally, CBD is an extract
taken from the cannabis
plant, the plant family that
includes both hemp and
marijuana. CBD, discov
ered in 1940, isn't the only
cannabinoid found in
cannabis. In fact, there have
been over 100 cannabinoids
discovered thus far in
cannabis. This particular
form of CBD is extracted
from the hemp plant and
not, as many people believe,
the marijuana plant.
CBD was approved for
medicinal use by the Food
and Drag Administration
only last year and hence, the
newfound interest in it. The
medicinal form of CBD was
first approved as a treatment
for epilepsy, especially
epilepsy in children. How
ever, research has now
found that CBD can also
treat many other ailments,
including pain associated
with arthritis and migraines,
inflammation, anxiety,
memory loss, motor control,
depression, and more.
At the seminar, Dunn
spoke about the history of
hemp as a medicinal prod
uct, noting that hemp has
been used for various ail
ments for over 8,000 years.
Its use has been docu
mented in China as early as
2,700 B.C. and was also
used during the Roman Em
pire. Dunn also explained
the body's neurological
ECS (Endocannabinoid)
System and how CBD
works through the ECS. He
See CBD on 2A
Library expansion needs final
approval from legislature
“We’re in the final stretch,”
says library system
executive director
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@piekensprogress.com
It’s been five years since voters ap
proved $2 million in the 2014 SPLOST for
renovations at the Pickens County Library,
and if legislature approves $2 million in
matching hinds in the upcoming session the
project can move forward.
“It takes a long time to get binding lines
up for these projects,” said Sequoyah Re
gional Library System Executive Director
Anita Summers, “so people have probably
been hearing about it a long time and won
dering if it’s ever going to happen. We just
want people to know we’re in the final
stretch.”
The expansion would expand the
11,000-square-foot building, which was
constructed in 1996, an additional 8,000
square feet and include a complete renova
tion of the existing space. There would be
more space for books and technology, com
puter training/library programs/meeting
spaces, a children’s room and teen room, an
expanded genealogy and local history
room, a snack area, “flexible” spaces for
collaboration, larger browsing areas, and
more space for study and quiet reading.
“Pickens is just maxed out and libraries
have changed since this building was
built,” Summers said. “There is no room to
grow in areas we’d like to grow, not just for
our [print] collection, but for things like ad
ditional programming, more seating, teen
areas. More people are coming in to use
services for things like our collaborative
areas and study rooms, for kids doing
homework or people using technology. Our
computers are heavily used by either people
who don’t have the internet or by people
whose computers might be broken and
need to print things out. People think that
because so much is going digital libraries
should be smaller, but that’s not the case. I
don’t see print books are ever going to go
away. Studies are showing that it’s not just
older people who hold on to print - even
younger people if they read anything of
length want a book - and not everything is
See Library on 2A
Christmas parade draws big crowd
Max Caylor / Photo
Angels on Horseback members were in the spirit of the season, waving to the crowd.
By Max Caylor, Progress contributor the Grand Marshal and the Honorary Grand
Marshal was city council member Kirk Raf-
A large crowd of 1,500-2,000 people field,
lined Main Street for the 13th annual Jasper Ag Pro's float won first place, Inspire
Merchants Association Night of Lights Entertainment was second, and the First
Christmas Parade last Saturday night fea- Baptist Youth was third. The Pride of Pick-
turing 52 entries. Mayor John Weaver was ens band was proclaimed "Best In Show."
Inside:
Arbor Hills
invites public
to view their
Christmas
lights
Page 16A
Dragons
remain
undefeated
Page lB
Obituaries - 12A
• Cecil Sweat
• Danny Beasley
• David Kiser
• Dickie Patterson
• George Goodman
• Kathy Lawton
• Lloyd Jones
• Martha Bryant
• Ruby Williams
• Steve Pettigrew
Index
Editorial 4A
Letters to the editor . ,5A
Obituaries 12A
People 14A
Kids 3B
Church 4B
Legals 6-7B
Classifieds 8-9B
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